TANGLEWOOD PORCH.

INTRODUCTORY TO “THE GORGON’S HEAD.”

   

Ey Tanglewood, one fine autumnal morning, was
i>) assembled a merry party of little folks, with a
tall youth in the midst of them. They had planned a
nutting expedition, and were impatiently waiting for the
mists to roll up the hill-slopes, and for the sun to pour
the warmth of the Indian summer over the fields and
pastures, and into the nooks of the many-colored woods.
There was a prospect of as fine a day as ever gladdened
the aspeet. of this beautiful and comfortable world. As
yet, however, the morning mist filled up the whole length
and breadth of the valley, above which, on a gently
sloping eminence, the mansion stood.

This body of white vapor extended to within less than
a hundred yards of the house. It completely hid every-
thing beyond that distance, except a few ruddy or yellow
tree-tops, which here and there emerged, and were glori-
fied by the early sunshine, as was likewise the broad sur-
face of the mist. Four or five miles off to the south-